One big difference, I've always suspected, is that a plane crash is very visible and affects hundreds of people at once.

Somebody sick dying in hospital, on the other hand, is just something that happens, and draws very little attention - even though way more people are affected than in plane crashes.

So, the clustering and visibility of plane crashes leads to excellent check list discipline and other best practices in aviation, by and large (CRM, Crew Resource Management, is another thing Atul Gawande brings up in The Checklist Manifesto, and also eminently transferable to surgery), while I suspect that in surgery it is easier to drift away from best practices again without anyone noticing.

That's why these large studies and the educational efforts of Dr Gawande and others are so important.

edit: typo

Yes, that’s probably the reason because mistakes in health care is an absolutely massive killer. In the US alone it’s responsible for about as many deaths as if two jumbo jets collidee with each other every day. The number of people dying from the simple fact that health care practitioners are humans and humans get tired, drunk, angry, careless or just plain stupid for random reasons is mind boggling.

If we saw a midair collision of jumbo jets every day however the public would never accept it.

https://catalyst.nejm.org/medical-errors-preventable-deaths/